Chasing the Horizon

"We could make it.

Stay behind the night, ahead of the sun.

There's gonna be one speed...mine.

If you can't keep up, don't step up.

You'll just die." (Riddick)

So I was watching parts of Chronicles of Riddick over the weekend and the scene came up where they are on Crematoria where Riddick and Kyra escape the planet's continuous peril of the sun scorching the surface. I kinda laughed and said to myself, “This is an overdramatic, over embellished metaphor of our situation.” It’s partly true…

Prizes, Prizes, Prizes. Well, the weekend was a heated one. While many ideas were considered, the fundamental theme we all agreed on is that we are currently "chasing the horizon." It's so simple and yet so alluding. We have appreciated any and all suggestions and while some of these or a combination of pieces of these suggestions may prove to be a worthwhile strategy, we must find a way to ensure that the main problem is addressed; “chasing the horizon.” After weeks of deliberating the best path to take (and often arguing with ourselves), the problem is as clear as ever.

Going back to my planet Crematoria analogy…Yes, I understand that they weren’t really chasing the horizon but actually running away from the horizon, but they ARE chasing something that keeps moving. And yes, I understand that Riddick’s fundamental reasons for most of his actions are based on self preservation where I’d like to think JACT acts on more preservation of the whole.

Anyways, in normal times, we do have a Crematoria-like environment. The JACT world keeps spinning and BUX keep flowing. We were always able to keep up. We knew what kind of service we were creating and we were prepared to build that kind of business. Now it seems that we just need that world to slow down a little for us to catch our breath and regroup. Aren’t science fiction movies about evil undead Necromongers, Elementals, and the fight to save the universe from evil dead warrior priests a great way to help translate simple business?

I really didn’t cover much here except for the fact I probably paid too much attention to Riddick over the weekend. But in all seriousness, we are working on it.

I don't even know what to title this

Please understand that many prizes HAVE actually been shipped this year, just not all of them. We have had hundreds and hundreds of orders since the start of the New Year. This problem did not build up over 24 hours; it has slowly and methodically built up since October of last year.

We agreed that a better communication process needed to be in place, so we created the JACT Blog to help do that. JACT is trying our best to step up, and hope everyone can stay positive as we work together, as a BETA community, to get through this.

We value every user in our community, and certainly hope everyone values our service and enjoys watching us grow while they earn prizes. If running Eamonn is too stressful while these prize ship times are uncertain, I would suggest those users pause their use of JACT and Eamonn until we can get an announcement out when everything is back to top speed.

This is not what we want, but understand if some users choose to do this. Let us win you back if you feel the need to turn away from us. Thanks to everyone for all the questions, comments, and concerns. This is what we need to succeed and build a great service for the gamer.

Over the weekend we will analyze a few options to proceed with. We've had a lot of suggestions to how we deal with our current prize distribution situation. The most popular ones are (in no particular order):

1) Turn off the Mall and allow credits to be earned. Turn the Mall back on when orders are up to date

2) Do number 1 but also turn off the registration so no more new users can sign up

3) Keep doing the same thing and just try to catch up with orders

4) Give people the option for a refund of their BUX spent on queued orders

5) There's the obvious one of letting the users decide if they want to spend BUX now or just stop using JACT for the time being (including

Eamonn)

So, we will return with more on this…until next time.

Beta still means Beta

Thanks for everyone’s continuing support. Being that we are in beta, we are continually working out the kinks to our system. The most important thing for you guys, obviously, is the prize system. While we’ll admit we are analyzing the redemption program on the fly, it is critical that we continue adjusting the strategy in effort to attract the most possible sponsors for our gamers.

But, hey, we are in Beta!

The real question arising from all of this is regarding the prize shipping timeline. Most of you have already received your prizes. For the people that have been patiently waiting (in some cases far too long), first off, we are sorry for the delay. Please understand these delays are mostly caused by the downturn in the economy and sponsorship issues. For example, some companies that were sponsoring JACT no longer are in business. While that sucks for us, I am sure it sucks more for them. We have to be sympathetic to the situations affecting our country every day. We are still here and going forward, as we work through these problems, our efficiency will increase. Lastly, rest assured that ALL ORDERS WILL BE SHIPPED! As far as when…that’s difficult to accurately estimate. Please know that we are working this every day.

Again, it’s important to note that we are in Beta.

With that being said, our sponsors are constantly working with us to create the best mutually beneficial relationship. It is our job to present JACT to sponsors and work hand in hand with them to ensure their support. We will be looking at feedback provide our sponsors with new ways to get prizes into the hands of our gamers. In the upcoming weeks, you will see changes in the Mall to ensure our partnerships. Needless to say, these tough economic times are keeping JACT on its toes. We hope that our gamers will continue to support us as we build up JACT. With that being said, changes to the Mall are not only allowing us to maintain great sponsorship but also allowing JACT to be competitive in our current economy. We just wanted to thank all our supporters and let everyone know that we are working as hard as we can to have everyone “Play with Purpose.”

We will add to this blog weekly to address the latest here at JACT, including prize shipping, upcoming improvements, our own marketing efforts, and how badly we wish Transformers would come out sooner.